"For the S&P 500 companies the cumulative FX translation
losses have grown quite a bit over the last couple of quarters as
the U.S. dollar has strengthened and are now $244 billion in the
aggregate," Zion said of the balance sheet impact. "That's the
highest level in the past 15 years."

Credit
Suisse

To be clear,
this isn't exactly the number you're seeing taken out of a
company's reported revenue or earnings on the income statement.
And this is where we might lose you in the mess of
accounting jargon.

"The FX
translation gain or loss initially bypasses the income statement
and is reported in shareholders' equity as part of accumulated
other comprehensive income (AOCI)," Zion said. "It’s not until
the business is sold or liquidated that the cumulative FX
translation gain or loss that had been stored in equity is
transferred to earnings."

That's the
balance sheet stuff. As for the income statement:

"Even though
the FX translation gain/loss is not (initially) reported on the
income statement the FX translation process can still have an
impact on earnings," Zion added. "[T]he translated revenues and
expenses will fall (all else equal) if the reporting currency is
strengthening against the functional currency and vice versa when
the reporting currency weakens. As a result the stronger dollar
tends to cause reported revenues and earnings to drop for many
U.S. multinationals. Though the margins (in percentage terms)
stay the same (functional currency vs. reporting currency) bottom
line earnings can be impacted."